Guild Wars III Roleplay (Rated T)

[Strife]

((Floating Hall of Strife))

The entire city hall was filled with his watchful eyes, to the point where the building itself might as well have been an extension of his body. Someone was here. He could sense it.

Despite his recognition of the intruder, Strife remained seated on his makeshift throne... unmoving... as still as the petrified souls around him. He mentally ordered his new pet to take care of the nuisance. Because Dark Sev had inherited Strife's omnicidal personality, combining it with the aggression of his past life as Sev, the phoenix had absolutely no objections.

Dark Sev disappeared in a swirling vortex of pitch-black energy, reappearing immediately in front of the intruder with the same kind of effect. With a split-second glance, he noticed an aura of light surrounding this character, and they appeared to be unaffected by the ooze, which was quite apparent by the stranger's ability to hold an ooze-covered sword with his hands.

With a few heavy flaps of his wings, Dark Sev landed on the ground in front of the stranger, glaring up at him with his static, lifeless eye sockets.

"Stranger," he began, "I don't need to tell you that you are unwelcome here, so I will offer you a simple choice. If you choose to leave this place, I will give you swift and immediate transportation to the surface. If you choose to remain..." An invisible fire burned inside the eye sockets of the phoenix. "...then I will ensure that you never leave this place again."

[Rider]

[glow=red,2,300]Spacefleet HQ, Commandeering Bits[/glow]

Rider was woken from her pleasant nap by the sound of - gunfire.

Rider had learned a variety of NTWF dialects in her travels around the world, and utilized all of them in her ensuing string of swear words as she rolled under the warship.

She buried her face in her hands, too shocked to do anything but curse.

When the rat-a-tat stopped, she checked to make sure all her limbs were intact. All accounted for. She looked up and into the civilian area and immediately regretted it.

Oh Spacefleet, what have you done? The Underdeep was getting exactly what it wanted. The fatal kind of fear.

Fatal. The crew.

Rider rose, suddenly more awake than she had ever been in her life despite only getting fifteen minutes of sleep in the past 36 hours. They were mercifully also unharmed. Rider was too shaken to even feel grateful for that.

The ride seemed to take hours. Rider wondered silently whether she should have stayed back and attended to the wounded. It was a thought triggered by pure guilt, as Rider didn't know a potion from a poultice, but it would have done more good than this - what appeared to be an uncertain mission onto an openly hostile planet. Meeting someone who the weasels described as "like Shiva" which is enough to pour terror into any sane heart.

Re-entering atmo felt like a dream. This was not the world that had nurtured her since her childhood. This was another lifeless piece of chaos.

"You must be Fluffy,"

And speaking of chaos.

The creature was not something Rider would have dubbed "Fluffy." It was like something out of a childhood nightmare that one had as an adult, familiar and yet spine-freezing.

That spear was tickling the corners of Rider's memory. "That spear... Pardon, but... where did you get it?"


[glow=red,2,300]Spacefleet HQ, Chaos Central[/glow]

Kienne was just about to follow her husband, who had been behaving more than a little strangely, when the guns started rattling. Before she could register what was happening, Rane pressed himself against her and... Well, that shield must be some sort of pirate trick, right?

Then time hiccuped and froze. Pieces of black stone scattered on the ground. Kienne, shielded by TMC's bubble, was not frozen with the rest of the refugees. Her eyes widened. The baby kicked inside of her, sensing that something was not right as TMC materialized out of nowhere.

"Rane... what is going on? Who is this... this..." Man didn't seem like the right word. Nor did thing, and anyway, he might get quite insulted.

"Darling, what's happening?"

[Cyborg]

[ I know, sorta short and pointless, but it brings all three in.] (Spacefleet) Cyborg had been in his room for several days due to a flu. So when he walked out seeing people that were not fleeters, he was shocked. " Hello, can ANYONE tell me what's going on?"

-----------------------------

[ Miles away from Mage Manor]
Rose and Midknight were huddled up in a sphere of shadows. The sphere was protecting them from the ooze, which seemed to be causing petrification. So far the barrier seemed to be holding up, but they needed to get somewhere safe.

" I think the only place powerful enough to stop this ooze, is the manor." Rose stated.

" I agree, Rose grab my hand, let's hope this works." Midknight agreed, taking Rose's hand turning into shadow form, and taking off towards the Manor.

[Kiddo]

Ninja Dojo

Kiddo paused in mid-step and turned her head to stare at Rider, her ears back flat against her skull.

"Gray Lands," she said, "It finds who it will. Maybe it finds who is supposed to carry it, maybe not. For now, it protects this place. Ooze cannot pass it. Maybe it destroy all ooze, put things right. Not until it is found by the right person... and I can smell your fear and doubt. It's nothing more than a spear for you and I."

She muttered something under her breath and swished her tail. She was frustrated and seemed to be hiding something as well, something she was loathe to say not because of who she was talking to... but for other reasons of her own.

"A battered, old spear. We going or should we wait here until evil man calls fire from heaven and blows this place up?"

[Deleted]

Near Tabloid Town, which Nasue will probably return to in good time


"Yes, yes you should. Just Author will do. And I know your name, I've looked through the Fourth Wall."

Nasue blinked, one of her ears twitching. Fourth Wall? Isn't that a fictional concept? But that'd mean... oh bloody hell Nasue, stop dwelling on it!

Not that her thoughts would be on that subject for much longer. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a light; she turned, and oh crap. A beam of light struck the city, and there was an explosion, throwing debris around with incredible force. Instinctively she shielded herself. Nothing hit her or anything nearby, but the coati could hear distant sounds of other explosions. Then they fell silent.

The Author spoke again. "Listen, you better hang on to me. And if you have somewhere you ought to be, better say where now."

"Y-you think I'd -- yeah, I'll try not to lose you or anything." At this point she looked up. Yeah, running away sounded like a very good idea... but there was one problem. Where the hell would she go?! At this rate, she'd end up on a big black ball! Unless she had the--

Oh no. Bad idea.

But probably the only choice she had.

No, idiot, using that was a last resort only. If Spacefleet found out about it, she'd be in a hell of a lot of trouble.

Hang on...

"You heard of a pirate named Huntress, Author?"

--

Somewhere in the general vicinity of Mage Manor


This was not good. The battle in Kovaran's mind took two sides; one hoped that Draco was himself and well-intentioned, but one screamed at him, cursing his fellow ninja as he would curse a member of his own family, the once noble Mokra-kar. And then there was a bright light from where Tabloid Town was...

If anyone had been paying attention to him at that moment, they would have seen the large warrior's fists clenching, and his teeth being bared. Being as hot-blooded as he was, particularly for his age, it was an astonishment that he was not shouting with all the power of his voice. But a growl from him, rumbling across the area, was telling.

"The ones in power, corrupted... just as they were."

And suddenly he whipped around, pointing a finger at Draco.

"Draco Ocard! The time you spoke, and the time of that light... I suspect you are working with them!"

Somewhere in the world, an NNPC went into cardiac arrest.

[Draco]

<<The Party At Mage Manor>>

"Kovaran, loud, large, notices things one should not. This might end well if he was to grow angry. I wonder what we should do. We? So I'm important again? Personally I say do the honorary thing. Kill them all, bathe in their blood, and play being attacked when the other mages come out of the manor? Exac... Wait. What? NO! That's a horrible idea! Sounded fun to me..."

The possessed Draco turns his attention to Kovaran.

"Mere coincidence. To be able to time that I would have to have some way to communicate from long distances. Besides, I'm trying to tell you that the Fleet are the bad guys, why would I work with the Fleet. I don't have any of their communicators on me either. Believe me, I can try and empty my pockets if you wish."

In fact, that is what he begins to do. He starts to reach into pockets, and drop small throw-able weapons like kunai and shurikens, spikes, small hand weapons, short swords, bombs, other weapons a ninja could hold onto, and then things got a little weird. Random things began to pile up like grenades, a lunch box, a brand new pair of pink meepit pajamas, a map of the moon (which was pretty blank), a couple small figurines of himself in different poses, a pile of shiny keychains, and the pile continued until he just stopped.

"See, no communicators, unless you count those tin cans and string. Now what other proof do you have against me to say I am working with the enemy?"

He takes a few steps away from everyone, and stares off at nothing in particular in the distance.

"Fools..."

[Ikkin]

"Now wait just a minute!" Omni said. "I admit I may be out of the loop, but I don't see a reason why the 'Fleet would suddenly attack the Mages, or anyone else here. I've interacted with them due to the trading, and overall, I've sensed very little that suggests anything malicious about them, and even then it was in individuals, not the group. Even now I didn't sense anything in this guy's aura to suggest that he was lying."

No reason... Ikkin thought. Well, sure, the Fleet had no reason. But that didn't change what they'd done - it just made it even worse.

Before she could say anything, though, the 'Fleeters who had come to "save" everyone began to rant about how they actually did care about the planet, and how dare she suggest otherwise. It was all very convincing, and if Ikkin hadn't been seething mad, she might have questioned whether she had really felt what she thought she felt.

As it was, it all just made Ikkin even more mad at whoever was responsible for this mess.

"Miss...Ikkin, is it? the team leader asked, "I seem to recall you coming to Spacefleet some months ago for the purpose of negotiations. Unless I'm mistaken, you met with the man who's now our Commander."

"Yeah, I met with him. He seemed like a nice enough guy to me. But, considering the circumstances, he's not acting in our best interests anymore. And since you're following his orders, I doubt you are, either."

Before she could say anything else, a faint bluish light descended from the sky somewhere in the direction of Tabloid Town. Once again, Ikkin felt the destruction faintly - everyone who had been hit by the blast had already been petrified, but she could still feel the remnants of magic dissipate as thousands of lives were lost.

The silver-haired beauty started an incredibly-convincing speech detailing the 'Fleeters' sins, but Ikkin had already had enough.

"I've had enough of this farce," Ikkin said, drawing her sword out in a single swift motion, her voice a low growl. "If you don't leave our planet right now, I will chase you from it if it's the last thing I do."

"The amount of work I'm going to have to do after this is beginning to become ridiculous," Sev added. "I don't know if you yourselves are bad, but you'll pay dearly for your commander's sins if you don't renounce him immediately."

[Gelquie]

((Inside Mage Manor))

The girl's eyes blearily opened, the fuzziness of her mind and the blurriness of her vision not even taking in the fact that she was indoors now. At first she just lay there, trying to let her eyes settle and sorting her mind out. She primarily wanted to know what just happened. She was somewhere... before... she didn't even remember going to sleep, or even where she may have laid her head. Confused, the girl groaned, put her hand to her head, and started to rub it.

"GYAH!" the girl cried out as the a sharp pain shot through her head. That was a mistake; let's not rub that bruise again. Or at least I hope it's a bruise, she thought.

At least the sudden pain brought the fuzziness out of her brain. Now while she was waiting for her eyes to unblur, she tried to remember what'd happen last night. First, she was outside. Okay, nothing new. Then she was nearing some purple manor. Definitely new. And then... ooze? Heading her way? What the... Wait, wait, she definitely remembered now.

**

Gelquie checked her map again, tracing her finger along the paths she had taken; from the mountains downward into the forests below until she found herself in Tabloid Town. How long that took her, she never bothered to keep track; one day passed like the next. But from the town, she'd resupplied, gathered information, tried to grasp the culture (that was harder), and took a very much needed bath. Once she finished tracing her path, she looked up at the purple manor, visible despite being far in the distance.

She'd never met the people in there before. In fact, she didn't really know anyone. But that didn't matter now; what mattered was that she needed a place to stay, and she couldn't stay at the inns forever; not with her kind of money. And as much as the screams from random townsfold about rampaging destruction of Beaver Hills appealed to her curiosity, she just wasn't ready to be involved in... whatever.

In any case, she needed a place to stay, and given people like her, she figured that the Mage Manor might at least be interesting. She walked forward at a steady pace, smiling as the bright purple building came closer... Until she turned around. There was ooze creeping steadily towards her.

Gelquie stared at it before picking up a large stick on the ground and throwing it at the ooze. She didn't need to see it finish turning to stone before she turned and started running towards the Manor as fast as she could. She really wasn't sure if it was going to do her any good, running away from something like that. But she was really too panicky to think of anything else.

She couldn't look behind, she was running so blindly. All she knew was that she had to get ahead, quickly. The Manor was getting closer, and closer. Closer... She was almost the--!

She completely lost her balance just before tripping over something hard, and she collided head-first against the wall of the Manor. She fell to the ground, reeling, and trying to stay awake, and away from that misty oozy stuff. But she wasn't accustomed to running so far and so fast either; she couldn't take this. Her eye just caught the glimpse of a ship just before she passed out.

**

Gelquie shot up, now fully awake, as she looked frantically around her. She shivered; she'd never been so panicky in her life. But at least now, she was away from... that... Maybe there were people in this place.

Then she heard shouts from not too far away. Okay, yes there is, she thought. She got up, not bothering to fix her tangled clothes and hair, and walked closer to the noises, ignoring the hunger pains in her stomach and the fatigue she felt. But yeesh, it felt like a maze. And perhaps it was. She just needed to find them...

Gelquie eventually came to a large gathering. Mages, ninjas, space people...

"What's go--" Gelquie let out before she stopped herself; she needed to observe, not blurt out random questions in an amiable situation such as this. Bah. She hoped no one took too much attention to her.

((Feel free to correct me on anything. And sorry for the long post.))

[Huntress]

((Ninja Dojo to Tabloid Town))

Hunty raised a semi-curious eyebrow at the lanky creature that now slid into their spaceship, but you see all sorts in places like Tabloid Town and the Spacefleet. So she waited until Bloody Mary had worked things out with his bowels, pulled him back in and went to the pilot seat.

"Well, welcome aboard," she said, already focusing on the controls, or at least the bits she could understand. "Name's Huntress, this is my crew, or what's left of it anyway. Might want to grab a seat, it might get shaky in here very soon. You, uh, ship?"

"Yes?" There hadn't been a name written on the hull and the ship didn't seem to pick up the hinting blank in the conversation. Hunty dropped the topic and paused to think.

"Destination: Tabloid Town harbor," she said resolutely. "And give me manual control after that and, let's see, yeah, scan the entire city for lifeforms."

"You're planning to fly this thing yourself?" Bloody Mary asked as the ship lifted off and the world became hazy again, albeit not as drastically this time because the city was too close for lightspeed.

"Flying is like sailing," said the captain, taking the control yoke, "except with more ups and downs. You just have to be able to sense the currents, and the rest is... woah."

They were hovering above the city harbor already. By this time, everything was smooth and black and silent: the sea was one huge flat field, glimmering like marble, the houses stood like prehistoric monuments and the jungle of petrified spiky masts of the stone ships reached as far as the eye could see in both directions. And in the middle of that silent world of death stood one ship, black and glossy like the rest, that looked oddly more... alive. It was spiky, with disproportionally wide yards that curled up from the ends, making the whole ship look like a demonic pagoda, its sails still moved in the wind, and it was shrouded in dark mist that seethed and sizzled furiously, rippling around the masts and lines. It was the White Weewoo, currently in its protective non-white shell.

Hunty grinned widely. "Oh yes. Knew she's able to take care of herself." She turned to look at the sprawling city before them and her eyes narrowed into slits. Now that this little concern was off her mind, it was time to deal with bigger ones. "Evil man who made ooze needs clobbering. Can do. Destination: city hall."

As the ship flew into the city at the crawling snail-pace of roughly a hundred miles per hour, Hunty took a look at the lifeform scan results. There were still quite a few. The city hall, of course, although gods only knew how the ship even considered Strife a lifeform. Maybe it was advanced enough to also recognize deathforms; after all, the planet had a fairly healthy zombie community by now. Zagora's shop had a few, the blarf's huge body clearly standing out before the rest. So he did get there, good, that's another load off her mind. There were more evacuations still going on farther away, this didn't concern her. And there seemed to be a solitary lifeform not too far away, now this was interesting, but probably didn't concern her either.

The last one was, in fact, Nasue, but even if Hunty had known that, she wouldn't have had the time to deal with it because at that moment, the city hall appeared. The shuttle had up until now been flying fairly low, sometimes practically on the streets where they were wider, and avoided crashing solely because the ship could recognize an amateur at the wheel and would occasionally get involved in steering. Now it stopped and remained hovering behind a tower of the house of some rich merchant who'd at some point been very interested in gothica.

"That's a whole lot of carnage," Bloody Mary said, staring at the craters farther away. "So what's your plan of action? Going to sneak around and play ninja?"

"Pretty much yes," Hunty agreed, eyeing the floating city hall and its stone spires critically. "Ready all cannons."

"Four plasma cannons, two torpedoes," the ship buzzed with a hint of question in its voice.

"All," Hunty said firmly, grabbing the yoke. "Aim away from the lifeforms, I don't know who else is up there. And fire all... now!"

The next seconds zipped by like they'd been squished together and hurrying to get past the dangerous bits as quickly as possible. The ship dashed out from behind the tower, spat out four plasma rounds at the underside of the floating house, added two torpedoes for good measure, aiming for the roof this time, and quickly backed down again.

***

((Fleet HQ))

"Darling, what's happening?"

"It's a...long story," Rane sighed. TMC paused in his redecorating to shoot an amused glance at the couple, then shoved another time-frozen peasant aside. He'd already cleared a few feet towards a hallway that, by his reckoning, led to the labs and his bike.

"So you're the wife," he said. "Pleased to meetcha. I'm TMC, the Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse, 'least I would be if I could find my bike. This would probably be easier if-"

At around that point, something ebbed back into his senses. The mind of a Horseman is complicated and some parts of it are external, connected with the Horsemen-plane, greater subconscious they all share to some extent and the mankind they're all connected with. This portion had taken a while to resettle and TMC had instantly been busy after breaking out, but now it snuck back in like a friendly elderly landlady who knocks on the door late in the evening and apologetically hands you an eviction notice.

TMC froze mid-motion all of a sudden, as if his timestop had extended to him as well. Then he straightened himself slowly. His eyes couldn't be seen, but even his sunglasses reflected murderous, barely contained rage.

"They did what?"

Rane took an instinctive step sideways to shield Kienne. It would've been as useful as a sick mosquito flying against a tornado, but he wasn't about to just stand by either. Fortunately, TMC didn't even seem to notice them any more. Chilly silence fell.

"O-kay," the Horseman then hissed and strode off through the crowd, pushing people right and left as they got in his way. Rane seemed hesitant, but then realized that the timefreeze might wear off if TMC leaves.

"Come on," he said, pulling Kienne along to follow the biker. "We might get trampled if we stay here."

[Strife]

((Floating Hall of Strife))

Only a few seconds passed while Dark Sev waited for a response from the stranger. After that, there was a faint sound of plasma fire, and the entire hallway they were standing in exploded in a violent burst of energy.

Dark Sev had focused his concentration on teleporting to another section of the city hall, so he was unable to deflect the two plasma rounds that bombarded the western section of the building's underside. Pieces of rock and debris flew across the sky and fell to the earth - and if that stranger's shield wasn't protecting him somehow, he was likely to suffer the same fate.

The black phoenix rematerialized a split second later, hovering a fair distance away from the city hall in the clouds. He created the same reflective disc that he did before. The remaining two plasma rounds bounced back and flew downwards towards the surface.

Meanwhile, the two torpedoes aimed at the roof suddenly stopped mid-flight, shook violently, and then started moving quickly towards the spacecraft like guided missiles. Inside the partially damaged city hall, Strife's right hand was shaking as he concentrated his psionic energy into manipulating the torpedoes.

[Speck]

Spacefleet

Nine months ago, she had been sentenced to "hard labor" at the Spacefleet's desert base. She worked in the newly established greenhouses on the newly established base for temporarily compromising Spacefleet's security and life support systems.

Three months ago, she had signed on with Spacefleet as a gardener in their moon base's hydroponics lab. They had the resources she needed to track down Noah Speckleton. For the price of her adventurous life, she could find her father.

And now? Now she was acting as a temporary medic to so many of the wounded refugees. Speck wiped the sweat from her brow as she worked, letting her magic flow into her current patient. She coaxed the refugee's blood to work faster, to clot at the freshly cleaned wounds. Another medic swooped in with bandages and water as she got up to take a break.

Once free of the room, she wandered over to a mostly empty corridor and slid down the wall to sit. Heaving a sigh, she examined the intricate tattoos on her right arm. They were designed to cover up one of the longer scars marking her as a blood mage. An intricate pattern of ocean life, lemons, and swords, the images of the tattoo blended into one continuous band. It coiled around her forearm like a fat sketch of a snake. So consumed with nostalgia, Speck hadn't noticed Nadine Maklakov sit next to her.

Nadine was considerably shorter than Speck, but much more full of joy. Rarely was she seen without a smile on her face, or a colorful barrette snapped into her rich red curls. She was also, perhaps, one of the only friends Speck had made while aboard Spacefleet's main headquarters. Nadine seemed to be the only one unfazed by Speck's past.

"You miss it, don't'cha, Fern." It wasn't a question. Speck didn't respond until Nadine gaver her a gentle nudge with her elbow.

"Yeah, a bit. But what can I do? 'S not like I should waltz down there, what with that ooze petrifying everything in sight."

"Who says you have to waltz? There are plenty of ships in the hanger you can borrow to avoid the stuff."

"Are there any I'm authorized to use?" Speck held up her left wrist, pointing to a black band of tech. The band's tiny screen pulsed a white-blue light, "I may be done with my sentence, but they're still watching me."

"So let them watch," Nadine shrugged.

"You're forgetting one tiny detail there, Nadine."

"Am I?"

"I don't know how to fly."

Nadine beamed at Speck, "I do."

Speck smiled and shook her head, staring intently at her clasped hands.

After a moment of silence, Nadine spoke more seriously, "Listen, Fern. I understand that you want to find him. Freya knows I would do anything for my mother if I ever lost her. But sometimes, you just gotta live. Take a break! You can still look for him when we get back."

Nadine had stood, offering a hand to help Speck up. Speck took her hand, "You mean, 'if we get back.'"

"When."

The two trotted away from the rooms of refugees to gather a few things for their trip to the surface of the NTWF.

[Kiddo]

Kiddo held on to the back of the pilot seat with all claws, watching with wide eyes as they flew over the horror that was this world. All that destruction... and for what? The Underdeep was not malicious. It was humans that had these evil thoughts! She glanced at her arm for a moment, something in her mind finally asserting itself. She had turned herself into a monster, something that couldn't even be seen in the light of day. If this... creature... she had become had come from those subconcious fears... than what else was she capable of?

She shuddered and let that part of the mind sink back into apathy. There were things to be done that required a monster, not a human mind.

And when the ship attacked, Kiddo shrieked and dug her claws in even harder.

"You get us all killed!" she shouted, "Crazy pirates! You-"

And she stopped mid-sentence. Something was out there. Something she recognized.

"Him," she said, pointing over Hunty's shoulder at Sev's general direction, "He killed me! I feel him! Can taste his scent... Go! Fly faster than missiles... get me close!"

And she let go of the chair and ran for the exit hatch of the vessel. One shot at hitting him in mid-flight. And if she missed - the thought never crossed her mind.

[Cyborg]

(Spacefleet)
Cyborg walked out into the corridor. " Hello, can anyone tell me what's going on? Anyone?" He looked for anyone he recognized and knew by name.
----------------
( Near Mage Manor)
Midknight and Rose continued in shadow form, and after much travel, they spoted the manor they desperately needed. They reached the front door, where Midknight was able to sneak them through the tiniest crack. When inside they returned to human form. " Hello, anyone. I have a healer here, does anyone need help? "

[Moonlight]

Tabloid Town; City Hall

"Stranger," he began, "I don't need to tell you that you are unwelcome here, so I will offer you a simple choice. If you choose to leave this place, I will give you swift and immediate transportation to the surface. If you choose to remain..." An invisible fire burned inside the eye sockets of the phoenix. "...then I will ensure that you never leave this place again."

Liyer was about to answer the bird's question, knowing he probably wasn't the one he was looking for, but was interrupted by several ear shattering blasts. The force from whatever it was sent him across the hallway and nearly smashed him into a doorway. Parts of the corridor and stone foundation cracked and splintered, falling hundreds of feet below. His shield flickered for half an instant, but returned quickly after.

"What's going on up there?" a hard voice echoed around his mind as he wiped some blood from a new cut on his leg.

"Oh, I don't know, Rivanth. Why don't you check? Seeing as your safe down in the city. I'm sure you can check the sky and tell me what's going on!" Liyer snapped and steadied himself on firmer ground. A chunk of building was missing and the wind whipped around anything that wasn't secure. The black sword lay embedded in a chair a few feet away.

The reply took a few moments, but with an explanation. "Ah, there's a ship or something up there, I think. May be Spacefleet...Seeing as they're attacking the tower itself they're obviously not on the enemy side.

"Like that makes anything better," he said and twisted the blade out of the splintered wood. "They nearly blew me up. Not my definition of allies. And besides, that phoenix may come back. Oh hey, I know. Why don't we join those Spacefleet people? You seem to hate the mages anyway."

"I don't...hate them. But I don't particularly favor the technology of the Spacefleet either. And if you're afraid of that phoenix, there's only one way back down," Rivanth chuckled, a sound that grated in Liyer's mind. "Besides, that shield's not going to last forever, you know."

The shield in question flickered once again before settling back to pale white. The idea of being stone wasn't very high up on the favorable options list. He stepped cautiously to the edge of the collapsed corridor and looked over the clouds below. There something of a ship shape outlined in the edge of the clouds, but he hadn't seen many in person to be sure.

"I'm not going to be cowardly and jump if I can help it, that's for sure," he muttered to no one in particular and shouldered the blackened blade.

[Huntress]

((Above Tabloid Town))

There was so much to keep up with that Hunty could barely concentrate on actual driving now. Not that she actually did; the spaceship had virtually taken over the entire process. As a sailor, Hunty was used to time-consuming, drawn-out maneuvers in a vehicle that took some time to respond; a method that would've gotten her killed in actual manual piloting. The ship, unwilling to argue, simply translated her commands as general directions and filled in the irrelevant bits, like calculating their way past rooftops and towers within a fraction of a second.

"Caution, ship is being tracked by torpedoes," it buzzed in that same eerily calm voice.

"Shoot 'em," Hunty said flatly, her attention already elsewhere, partly on the reflected plasma bolts, partly on Dark Sev and partly on the claws that were now digging into her seat. The ship would've pointed out that they were currently making a zigzagging semi-circle around the city hall, but thought better of it.

"You get us all killed! Crazy pirates!" a voice shrieked behind her seat. Hunty, not risking to turn her head, raised an eyebrow at the world that was dashing past beneath them.

"I'm sorry, were you expecting a pony ride? This is a war."

"Is that... a phoenix?" Bloody Mary asked, now clinging to her shoulder for dear life and looking in the direction where Kiddo was pointing.

"Don't know, don't care, but we have to take it down one way or another if we're to get to the city hall, otherwise it'll just keep on reflecting the attacks and I've no desire to burn half the city down." Hunty looked back at Kiddo, who was already at the door, seemed thoughtful for a second, then nodded.

"If you were in my crew, I'd forbid this, but I guess it's a good shot," she said. "Up we go, then."

The hum of the ship's engines rose into a dull roar as it accelerated and drew another diagonal semicircle that started from the roof level of the city and ended a few dozen yards above Sev. The hatch opened.

This high up, the air was shockingly cold, and the first thing they heard - at least apart from the howling wind - was the familiar nasty zwpzwpzwp. The tracking torpedoes exploded somewhere below them.

"Shame we couldn't do that above the city hall," Bloody Mary said wistfully as molten metal rained from the sky.